How It Came To Be
by Zuvie Girl
Summary: She was lonely and drunk. He was drunk and in love. We know how their story ended - this is how it came to be. LJ post-hogwarts non-canon.
1. Prologue

**A/N: It's been a long time since I've written anything, but as only a part-time student this year, I've gotten bored enough and distracted enough in class to start a few new projects. This one's a bit of a strange concept, but bear with it. As always, please read, review, and enjoy!**

* * *

(Late October, 1979)

As she woke up, Lily Evans noticed several things at once. Her head felt like it had been in an accident with the Hogwarts Express, wherever she was felt really drafty, and the sunlight coming through the window of the unrecognizable room was really damn annoying. She then realized that she was snuggled up against a man's bare chest and being held there by his arm, which was draped over her - she realized with a jolt - also naked body. _Why couldn't it have actually just been drafty?!_

Hesitantly, she peeled her eyes open against the infernal sun, and slowly moved her glance upwards along the man's tanned and muscular torso. _What the hell, Lily_, she thought furiously to herself, _you just woke up in the same bed with a naked mystery man, now is not the time to be checking him out!_

The instant her eyes hit his unruly black hair, she squeezed them shut again, trying to assure herself that lots of guys had messy, jet black hair that somehow constantly looked windblown. Right?

She resigned herself to the inevitable and opened her eyes again to finally examine his face, and had to hold back her groan. She had evidently just spent a night of drunken sex with none other than James fricking Potter.

Lily stuck a hand out behind her, afraid that moving would wake him up, and willed her wand to come to her.

His soft snoring stopped for an instant, but started up again after Lily had placed him under a mild sleeping spell, which Healers usually used for uncooperative kids. She eased herself out from under his arm and crawled out of the bed to look for her clothes.

After scurrying around the room picking up various clothing items, grabbing her bra from where it was hanging from a doorknob, and summoning her missing shoe to her from out of the closet, Lily apparated back to her little apartment, knowing that she didn't have much time until he would probably wake up.

_Where's the damn train when you need it?_

* * *

James Potter woke up having dreamt that Lily Evans, his long time crush from school, had come home with him the night before. The clarity of the dream made him feel like he was 16 again, and he could practically smell the vanilla that was in her shampoo.

He knew it was a dream though, regardless of how vivid it was. He hadn't seen or heard from Lily Evans in the almost year and half since they had graduated. He didn't know where she lived or what she did for a living, but he did know that the Quidditch bar he was at last night was the least likely place he would have found her at.

No, James told himself, there can't have been a girl in his room from the night before. According to Sirius, girls that go home with professional Quidditch players don't get up and leave in the morning without saying goodbye. And Sirius would know better than anyone.

The only thing James did know for sure was that he had a hangover the size of Britain. Running a hand through his hair, and grabbing his glasses off the nightstand, he headed to his bathroom for a hangover potion and a cold shower. He didn't even realize that the spot of bed next to him was still slightly warm, or that the pillows still smelled slightly of vanilla.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1 (7 weeks later)**

Carefully, Lily placed the little stick next to the two others already sitting on her bathroom counter. Then she sat down on the toilet and started to count the seconds.

After 10 minutes, she picked up the first stick. Two lines. _Damn_. Then the second, and the third. A plus sign, and another two lines. _Damn, damn, damn_.

As a final hope, and knowing that it would be 100% correct, Lily cast the standard Healer's diagnosis charm for pregnancy. A single, golden orb floated up from the tip of her wand. She sighed. That was it. There was no way she wasn't pregnant. _Damn_.

Lily slowly walked over to her kitchen table and unrolled a fresh piece of parchment.

'_Potter, we need to talk. Meet me at the coffee shop on the corner of River and Queens in Muggle London tomorrow at 7pm. It's urgent. LE'_

* * *

The next day, Lily was sitting at a small booth in the back corner of the coffee shop, nursing a steaming mug of coffee (decaf, of course), and waiting for James Potter.

After a few minutes, he walked in, hair wet and a navy blue Puddlemere Quidditch bag slung over his shoulder. He scanned the little shop and quickly located Lily, walking over to hesitantly join her in the booth.

"Um, what's up, Evans? You needed to talk?" he asked uncertainly.

Lily took a deep breath and slid a plastic bag holding one of the pregnancy tests across the table towards him.

"I don't know what that is," he said, confused.

Still silently, Lily tapped the key on the side of the test.

James' eyes widened, and he looked between the little plastic stick and Lily.

"You're pregnant?" he whispered, shocked. "Why am I here?"

Speaking for the first time since James sat down, Lily mumbled, "You're here because you're the father."

James was flabbergasted. "What? When?"

Lily didn't look at him as she answered, "A month and a half ago, after Puddlemere beat the Wasps, I think. We must have met up at the pub, because I woke up hung-over in your bed."

"I knew it!" James exclaimed. "Merlin, that makes me feel better about myself! I thought it was just a really randy dream!"

Lily glanced up from her coffee for just enough time to shoot him a scathing look.

"Er, sorry," James apologized, properly abashed. "I never pegged you to be the type to join Quidditch celebrations at pubs, especially not for a team that I play on."

"I wasn't there for Quidditch, and certainly not for you. Bad timing and worse luck," Lily said bitterly.

James looked at the despondent red head across the table from him, and just watched her for a few moments. Then he said, "Evans, why were you at the pub that night? Why did you agree to come home with me?"

Finally, snapping, Lily stared at James, and began to rant. "Why was I there that night? Because I was trying to drink away my miserable excuse for a life! I get up in the morning, go to Healer training, come home, do my reading and studying, and then go to sleep! I'm still top in my class, but nobody cares because there's only four of us, and we're at the bottom of the entire St. Mungo's system!"

"Evans-" James tried to interrupt.

"My best friend from Hogwarts is married and in Auror training, so has absolutely no time for me and I don't ever talk to anybody other than my damn owl. How's that for pathetic?!"

"Lily-" he tried again, to no avail.

"I live in a one room flat in the middle of absolutely nowhere because I can't afford anything else! And now I've gone and gotten myself pregnant! I'm going to look like a slag, I'm going to have to drop out of Healer training, I don't have the money to raise a baby, and my baby is never going to know its father!"

"Lily!" James all but yelled, grabbing her hands in his own. "Listen to me, for once! You are _not _a slag. You're the most beautiful woman in this shop. _Our_ baby is going to know its father, and its father is going to help provide for it! Do you really think that little of me? Even after seventh year as Heads together? We'll figure something out, I promise."

Lily sniffed and muttered something that sounded like "Loo," before quickly shuffling to the back of the room. James, meanwhile, started running through every possible situation he could think of in his head.

A few minutes later, Lily returned, her eyes a little red, but overall more composed.

As soon as she sat down, James blurted out, "Move in with me!"

Lily blinked. "I'm sorry?"

James nodded his head. "Move in with me. We can pretend that we're together, engaged even, maybe. My flat is plenty big for a baby."

She scoffed. "That's what this is all about for you, isn't it? Just an excuse to finally get me after all these years?"

"No!" James immediately shot back. "Evans, it's my baby too! I want to help. You know how I felt about you, but I want to help. Truly, I do."

"Well, if you pretend that we're together, or engaged, or whatever, you're going to have to stop getting together with random girls you meet at Quidditch. And, what will the press think about the random girls you got together with in the last month? How are you going to explain that?"

James blinked at her, and with total sincerity, said, "Lily, there won't be any other girls, and there haven't been any other girls. The media knows that. Sirius usually takes home two or three girls at once, which may be why you think that, but there would be no complications to pretending."

Lily shook her head. "How are you not more concerned about this? Aren't you scared? Overwhelmed? We're only 19…"

He shrugged. "Well, yeah, I mean, I'm surprised. Shocked, even. But it happened, and we can't very well undo it at this point. And we can handle it – you're a genius, and I'm an improviser. One of us has got to hold it together, right?"

Lily rolled her eyes at James' smirk.

"Better now?" James asked, examining her face, carefully.

Lily thought about it for a few seconds, and then replied, "Getting there. I have a lot of thinking to do. Er, thank you for meeting me here, and for your offer."

They got up to go their separate ways, and after James had slung his bag over his shoulder, he stopped Lily by grabbing her hand, and pulled her close to him.

"You can't get rid of me now, Evans. By the way, you really are the prettiest girl in this entire shop right now. Owl me when you make a decision, love," he called out with a wink as he walked away.

* * *

"…and then he invited me to move in with him, Darcy. Said that we would pretend to be together, or even engaged, to make it look better on my part. Can you imagine that? Me, engaged to James Potter, the boy who I nearly killed every time I saw him for seven years. How in Merlin's name am I supposed to respond to that?"

Big, brown eyes blinked slowly twice, but their owner gave no response.

"What the hell am I thinking? I'm not about to get any response out of my damn owl best friend."

And with that, Lily sighed exasperatedly and threw herself onto her small bed to weigh her pros and cons.

_Pro: my already fragile public image won't be shattered if I have a "boyfriend" or "fiancé." Con: It's Potter. Pro: I'll have the space and money to take care of the baby. Con: Potter. Pro: My baby will know his or her dad. Con: Again, Potter. Ugh…_

* * *

Four days later, Lily stood outside of a door, dragging her trunk with one hand and holding her owl cage in the other, and prepared to knock. She took a deep breath and quickly rapped on the door three times. After shifting from foot to foot for a few minutes, she was just about to knock again when the door was pulled open.

James Potter stood there blinking, a towel wrapped around his waist and a hand in his wet hair.

"Evans!" he finally exclaimed, coming to his senses. "I didn't think you were going to take me up on the offer. It's been several days."

Lily flushed, staring at her feet. "I needed time to think," she muttered. "This is the best option."

James grabbed her trunk and started to haul it into the spacious flat, inviting Lily inside and asking her to wait in the main room while he ran into another.

He returned a few minutes later, fully dressed and carrying a small wooden box. He joined her on the couch, and began to nervously point around the apartment.

"So, this is the living room. The fireplace is hooked up to Floo, and the box on the mantle is full of Floo Powder. Kitchen's over there – there's not much food right now, we can go shopping later today, there's a little Muggle market a few blocks away…" his rant trailed off as he noticed Lily was actually smiling a little bit. "What?"

"I've never seen you this uncomfortable in a situation before, that's all," she replied, with a slight laugh. "Go on."

"Oh, erm, alright. There's not really a dining room, since I never really ate here much before. That's my bedroom over there, there's the bathroom, and that's the spare bedroom, which I was thinking we can probably make into the nursery."

Lily got up and started for the spare bedroom to inspect its potential as a nursery, but was cut off as James ran to intercept her and threw his arms out in front of the door.

"Sirius may or may not have brought a girl back with him last night. I haven't heard them leave yet, so you probably don't want to go in there. Let's sit back down."

As soon as she took her place on the couch back, she turned to James, stricken looking after realizing what he had just said. "Black lives here too? I can't deal with both of you and being pregnant at the same time."

James looked slightly affronted. "No, he doesn't. My place is just a lot closer to the bars than his is. He likes to spend nights here if he's got a girl with him. But he can go back to sleeping at his place."

"Does he know?" Lily asked, gesturing at her stomach.

"Ahh… no. I didn't know if you wanted him to know the real story or the story we'll tell the media."

Lily thought for a moment. "Tell him the real story. I get the feeling that I'm stuck with him, so he deserves to know. What exactly is this media story?"

James picked up the little box, and opened it to reveal several rows of elaborate rings. Lily stared at the diamonds, rubies, sapphires, emeralds, and more.

He smiled gently as he watched her. "This is part one of the media story. Pick whichever one you like. They were my mother's. I know which one I'd pick for you, but I'm probably wrong, so it's your choice."

After a few moments, Lily picked up a gold ring with a large, circular emerald in the center of it. There were delicate swirls on the top and bottom of the ring, and diamonds were sprinkled throughout them. It was large, but not obnoxiously so, and quite unique.

James' eyes lit up and he grinned. "That was the one I thought you'd pick! Put it on, and it'll size itself for you.

Lily did, and lifted her hand to admire the ring. "Thank you," she said, quietly. "But you don't need to let me use your mother's things."

"No, no, it's fine. For your sake, I'm making this engagement look as real as possible. I figured you didn't want me going out and buying you a ring though, because then it makes it too real."

She nodded. "Good call, Potter, good call. So, what's the plan?"

James gave a bit of an evil laugh, and responded with, "I thought you'd never ask. Okay, I don't know if you know it or not, but it's currently off-season for the Quidditch league. That game against the Wasps was the second to last. I'll still have practice a few times a week, and there'll be the occasional social event, but no traveling to games. The story is that last season, while I was away for five months, I started writing back and forth with a girl I knew from back at Hogwarts. I'd always make a point to stop by and see her on the nights that I was in London, and thus, our current predicament."

He paused and gave a short little jab to her stomach, which resulted with his hand being slapped and a wand in his face.

He put his hands up in surrender, and then continued. "I asked you to marry you on one of those London nights, and you said yes! You never wore the ring to St. Mungo's because you were scared of getting it covered in guts and slime and stuff, Although, you mentioned it to me, and I told you that the ring is already charmed to not get dirty, so you can wear it to training now. You could never make it to any of my matches because you're just so studious, and you like me for my body and my wit, not my Quidditch skills. But now that it's off-season, I can spend time with you. We plan on announcing it officially at the Puddlemere Club end-of-season ball the night after tomorrow?"

"I like you for your body and your wit?," Lily said, after simply staring at him for a few moments, "You are certifiably insane."

"And you love me for it," James replied, cheekily.

"Ha," Lily replied shortly. "If you excuse me, I'm going to investigate your kitchen and then head to training."

She got up and briefly disappeared into the bedroom, only to reappear a moment later dressed in the lime green Healer robes. She was going through the fridge and cupboards when the door to the spare bedroom opened.

"Prongs? I thought I heard voices…" Sirius, wearing only low-riding pajama pants, trailed off as he saw Lily, his mouth hanging open.

Lily on the other hand, slammed the last cupboard shut and disappeared into the fire with a cry of "St. Mungo's!" and a flash of green.

"Shit," James mumbled, suddenly finding his mother's jewelry box very interesting.

"Prongs, was that Lily Evans?" Sirius asked, after a few moments of heavy silence.

"Erm, yes. Look, get rid of the girl, and then I'll explain everything. Marauder's honor."


	3. Chapter 2

**AN: Sorry I'm so awful at updating. I had gotten a few chapters done and didn't get around to posting them before taking a trip over the summer and starting grad school. Came back to it the other day after I hit a massive study block, so I'm going to attempt to write more and keep up with updates. As always, please read, review, and enjoy!**

**Chapter 2**

Lily was refilling and shelving potions when it happened - a shrill shriek that nearly caused Lily to overturn the cauldron of dreamless sleep potion in front of her.

"What? What's wrong?" she demanded of Charrisa Kent, one of her fellow Healer trainees. She drew her wand, prepared to see some sort of attacker, but what she saw was the curly haired blond jumping up and down and pointing at her hand.

Lily sighed. _Well, at least I had a few hours of peace and quiet_.

"Lily! Why didn't you tell us you were engaged!? I didn't even know you were seeing anybody! When did it happen? Who is he? How did he propose?"

Lily opened her mouth to answer, but was cut off again. "Hold on! Let me go get Cecile and Grace. One moment!"

A few minutes later, Charissa returned along with two other giggling, screeching women, who all quickly converged on Lily and took her hand hostage.

"Oh, it's gorgeous!"

"How beautiful! Congratulations!"

"Oh my goodness! I love it!"

As quickly as it came on, they backed off, and looked expectantly at Lily, who quickly tried to gather her thoughts.

"Yeah, um, it's actually been a few months. He's been out of the country, and we wanted to wait until he was home for a while before we announced it. We're officially announcing it in a few days."

"Oh, out of the country!" teased Charissa. "I didn't realize you fancied foreign men, Lily."

"Oh, he's not foreign. He travels for work. Sorry, ladies, that's all I'm going to say. Pay attention to the papers," Lily answered, with a wink and an air of mystery.

When they had finished with the potions and returned to their small office, there was a bouquet of roses on Lily's desk. Amidst the new round of squeals, Lily quickly snagged the note and read:

'_L – Forgot to tell you I've got practice tonight. Feel free to use anything you need. Told S, but he'll be with me at work, so you don't have to worry about him. There's a desk in my bedroom if you have to study. I'm not sure when I'll be back, so if it's late, I'll see you tomorrow. Love – J._

Lily spent the rest of the workday evading questions from her prying coworkers. She did stop by the market James had mentioned on the way back to his flat, and bought enough food to stock the empty kitchen.

She made up a pot of soup before taking a bowl of it with her into James' room to study. When James made it home, it was there he found her, surrounded by books and parchment with her head resting on a book on the desk, asleep.

He walked back into the kitchen and got himself a bowl of the soup and then stood, leaning against the doorway to his room, watching the beautiful witch whom he had sought after for years as she slept.

When he had finished, he took both bowls into the kitchen and cleaned up, before quietly removing Lily's lime green Healer robes and lifting her into his bed with a soft smile. He placed a light kiss on the top of her head, and grabbed an extra blanket, heading for the couch.

James woke up to the bedroom door being thrown open and the bathroom door slamming shut. He groped around on the floor for his glasses, and started for the bathroom as he heard the retching begin, stopping to fill a mug with water in the kitchen.

Silently, he pushed the door open, to see Lily practically wrapped around the toilet, throwing up. James set the water down on the counter, and joined her on the floor, gently pulling her red hair away from her face and gathering it in a hand behind her head. With his other hand, James hesitantly started rubbing circle on her back, waiting until she was finished.

After several moments of calm, Lily motioned for the water and swished it around in her mouth, spitting into the toilet. Then she rested her arms on the toilet and put her head down on top of them with a groan. "Damn morning sickness."

James hesitated. "Can you eat? I'll make some toast or something."

Lily groaned again. "Yeah. Give me a few minutes, and I'll be good."

When Lily had brushed her teeth and grabbed a dressing gown, she walked into the kitchen just in time to see James sliding a few very black pieces of toast into the rubbage bin.

He looked up sheepishly at her scoff. "Er, how's cereal sound?"

As they ate, he proposed, "You don't have to go into the hospital today right? Would you like to come with me to Diagon Alley to find a dress for tomorrow night, or do you want me to just pick one out for you?"

"Merlin yes!" Lily said emphatically. "There's no way in hell that I'm letting you go shopping for me! What exactly are we looking for?"

"Well, the team will wear our robes, and their dates – and everyone else – wears the teams colors. Do you even know Puddlemere's colors?"

Lily thought hard. "Er, blue?"

"Blue?!" James cried, outraged. "Blue, she says! Navy, Evans, navy! The stunning colors of Puddlemere United are navy and gold!"

"So, blue then?"

"Yeah," James admitted, calming down, "Yeah, blue works."

An hour later, James and Lily were strolling through Diagon Alley, James wearing a stocking cap pulled over his hair and a pair of overly large sunglasses which made him look ridiculous. He explained to Lily that he was often crowded by other shoppers when he went out, and wasn't really feeling it that particular day.

They walked into Twilfitt &amp; Tattings, and Lily told James to go pick out something for her to try on.

She raised her eyebrows at bundle of blue that he was carrying back. The second she saw it, she knew that it was awful and there was no way in hell that she would even consider wearing it, but she hauled it into the dressing room anyway.

It looked like something that had gone out of style 200 years ago, even by wizarding standards. There were puffy sleeves covering her shoulders, and a giant satin bow coming out of her backside.

James cocked his head to the side when she walked out, blinking. "You, er, look nice."

She looked at him. "I have explosions on my shoulders and there's a bow sprouting out of my arse!"

"But you have a nice arse."

"Just go get another dress. Try something without sleeves and from this century," Lily said, turning to go back into the dressing room.

James threw a second dress over the door of the dressing room, and Lily was swallowed by a mass of feathers. The top was strapless and fitted, with a few gold sequins scattered about it. From the waist down, however, it was a very full, trailing mess of blue feathers.

"That one's better!" James said, as she stepped out. "The feathers are nice."

"I look like I sat on 4000 parrots. Add feathers to the list of no's."

The next dress was sleeveless and featherless, but had horizontal stripes of layered blue and gold. As soon as Lily got a better look at it, she was that the gold was actually leopard print. Once again, the skirt was enormous, so much so that Lily actually got stuck trying to get back out to James.

"No," she said shortly.

"Oh, come on," he said laughing. "That one's actually got gold in it! There's absolutely nothing wrong with this one!"

"Potter, I'm wearing leopard. And beyond that, I can't get through the blasted door! Do you want to be shoving me through doors all night long?"

James raised an eyebrow. "Does that mean I can shove you along by your arse all night long?"

"Please be serious, for once in your life. I'm giving you one more chance before I'm just going to pick my own dress out."

The dress he came back with this time was mercifully a much smaller one, and Lily was actually slightly excited to try it on. It was deep navy, and had a ruched top that was separated from the skirt by a belt of the same color, that cascaded from a small golden disc at her hip. It was actually a gorgeous dress.

She stepped out of the dressing room, and James was once again speechless. "Evans… You look… That's the dress. That's the one."

Lily walked around in front of the mirrors, examining herself and every inch of the dress. As she caught sight of James standing behind her, and staring at her in unashamed awe, she began to feel very uncomfortable. He was clearly trying to make an effort, but there was no doubt in her mind that James Potter was still very much smitten with her.

"Yes, I think this is the one I want to go with. Is there a tag on it somewhere? How much does it cost?"

James insisted on buying the gown for her, and gallantly carried the bag for her. They proceeded to wander around Diagon Alley for a while, mostly in silence, before heading back to James' flat.


	4. Chapter 3

**AN: So when you're taking 20 credits of heavy sciences in grad school, you don't really have time for anything not related to school – sorry :/ However, this week is the first week in I don't know how long that I don't have an exam, so update time for you all! Thanks for reading – enjoy and review!**

**Chapter 3**

Mercifully, Lily was spared her bout of morning sickness the next day, and took advantage of the opportunity to sleep in.

She stopped as she walked out of the bedroom to the kitchen to make breakfast. James was sprawled across the couch, the blanket tangled around his feet and all three pillows scattered on the floor next to him. Lily smiled slightly before doing her best to make pancakes as quietly as possible.

She didn't really succeed, as James began to stir, mumbling while still half asleep. "Evans? Wasgoinon? You okay?"

Lily couldn't hold back her snort of laughter. "I'm making pancakes, Potter. Go back to sleep. I'll wake you up when they're ready."

"Hmm. Kay," James muttered, before flipping over and burying his face in the couch cushion.

Half an hour later, after they were done eating, Lily suggested, "You should probably shower and grab whatever you need to get ready. I'll be a while."

James looked baffled. "It's 11 in the morning. We don't need to be there until half past five."

"Just do it," Lily ordered, as she began to clean the kitchen.

Several hours later, James sprang up from the couch as he heard the bedroom door open, abandoning his Quidditch magazine. His mouth dropped open. "Lily… Wow!"

She was wearing the dress they had bought the previous day, along with tall, strappy gold heels. She had pulled her long red hair into a side bun, and left one curly tendril framing her face on the other side. A delicate gold barrette was tucked into the top of the bun.

James was wearing his Quidditch robes, navy with the two crossed golden rushes emblazoned over his heart. He stepped forward and took Lily's hand and gently spun her in a circle.

"You look stunning, Evans," he said sincerely. "Are you ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be, I guess," she replied, nervously.

"Just follow my lead," James said with a wink. "It'll be alright."

They apparated into an atrium room that Lily guess was right off of the main ballroom. She glanced around and saw five other men in navy robes, and one woman dressed the same. Some of them had dates with them, and others did not.

Sirius rushed over and made a show of grabbing Lily's hand and kissing it. "Lily, m'dear, you look lovely as always!"

Despite her unease about the situation, Lily couldn't help but grin. "Always the charmer, Black."

He threw his hands over his chest. "You wound me, Evans!"

"Okay, okay!" James cut in, and began to introduce the rest of his team to Lily.

"Sawyer Jones, our other Beater." A tall, dark haired man whose tattoos were sneaking out from under his sleeves onto his hands. "Chase Wright, our Captain and Keeper." A blonde man with hair pulled into a short ponytail. "Brain Garcia, our Seeker." A small, thin man with dark hair and beard. "And Erik Smith and Jessica Kempler, my fellow Chasers, and the first woman to play for Puddlemere." A jovial looking man with lots of curly brown hair, and a small woman with long blonde hair.

"Everyone, this is Lily Evans, my fiancé," he finished, dropping the bomb.

There was silence, and then James' team erupted into congratulations and accusations about not knowing.

He held up his hands to fend them off. "Hey, hey! We're announcing it tonight! Calm down!"

While Jessica and the few girlfriends rushed in to examine Lily's ring, the guys stood around chatting, waiting for the team to be announced.

After a few minutes, the team was introduced one by one, staring with the Captain, Chase. As each name was called, that person, and their date if they had them, walked through the big doors to the ballroom, where they paused for pictures to be taken of them.

Lily noticed the noise pick up when Sirius walked through the doors, likely because they took notice of the fact that there was nota girl on his arm for the Gala. She also took note of the fact that flashbulbs basically exploded when Jessica and her husband walked into the room.

James leaned down to whisper in Lily's ear, "The media loves the fact that we have a girl on our team. Aside from the Harpies, there aren't really many women in the league."

She nodded her understanding, clearly tense and nervous.

Seconds later, the announcer cried out, "Chaser James Potter, accompanied by Miss Lily Evans!"

Lily heard the babble increase, which she figured was because James had told her that he didn't typically take dates with him to events.

He grabbed her hand and squeezed it gently. "Ready for it to begin?"

She took a deep breath and they too walked through the doors and into the now crowded ballroom.

Lily was unprepared for just how many people would be waiting for them. Cameras clicked madly and the people behind them were screaming at James, and to her surprise, at her as well.

As they walked through the crowd of media personnel, James would periodically stop and wrap his arm around Lily and pose for pictures.

James led her to the corner of the room, where there were two tables set aside for the team to sit at for dinner. As they were being served, Lily was glancing around the room, still looking nervous and uncomfortable. James noticed, and hesitantly starting rubbing small circles on her back as he pointed out certain media members, players from other teams, Ministry workers, and even a couple of "super fans" who were significant donors to Puddlemere.

When the servers came by with drink requests, James asked for a firewhiskey, but Lily made sure to ask for water only.

"Water, Evans?" Sirius called from across the table.

"I don't drink, Black," she replied.

"I've seen you drink before!"

Lily narrowed her eyes. "I don't think you have. I used to drink, but I don't any more."

Sirius opened his mouth to argue, but James shot him a look that very clearly told him to drop it.

Shortly after, the servers began to clear away food dishes as music began to play, guests started to move to the dance floor.

The band started playing a cover of what Lily recognized as a song by a new popular wizarding band, the Weird Sisters. James almost jumped out of his chair and held his hand out to Lily, who hesitated.

"Dance with me?" he urged, putting on a fake pout. "Please, Lily? For the story? For me?"

With a sigh, she stood up and slowly took his outstretched hand. "Fine. But I'm not a very good dancer."

"That's okay!" he said with a wide grin. "Follow my lead!"

With that, James began to wildly spin her around the dance floor, narrowly missing crashing into other dancers. It was so fast and wild that Lily couldn't help but laugh. At one point, Lily found herself being twirled by Sirius and saw that James was dancing with one of the Chasers from the Harpies.

Several songs later, the band left the stage and the dance floor was cleared, and one by one, each member of the team took the stage to thank people for coming and donating, making few brief comments, and fielding a few questions from the press.

James took the stage to thunderous applause, which he soaked in for a moment with a large grin on his face. He eventually raised his hands and the crowd quieted immediately.

"They picked me to go last, so I get to say all the formalities. So, on behalf of myself and my teammates, we'd like to thank you all for your support of Puddlemere United this past season. And thank you as well for attending this Gala in support of St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. We hope that you will continue to stick by us in the upcoming year."

He blinked, and beamed again. "Now the fun part. Any questions for me?"

After a few men called out questions about James' thoughts on the past season and the next and questions about a few recent trades and injuries, a blonde witch managed to call out her question.

"Mr. Potter," she cried, "Kassidy Kaar with Witch Weekly. We all saw you enter and spend your night with the same woman. Could you introduce her and tell us how you met, what you are to each other?"

He looked over at Lily, who was standing slightly offstage, and smiled at her gently, holding out his hand. She forced a smile onto her face as well, hoping that she looked in love, and joined him on the stage, taking his hand.

Lily looked at James with wide eyes, and he squeezed her hand before turning back to the crowd. "This beautiful woman is Lily Evans, my fiancé."

The room exploded. Flash bulbs blinded and people were shouting.

"We've been," James began loudly, causing immediate silence to fall, "engaged now for three months. I met up with her again last year when I was home for a weekend, and we started writing back and forth. After one of our games in London this past season, I took her out to dinner and asked her to be my wife, and she said yes."

"Miss Evans, what do you do?" one reporter cried out.

"Where did you two initially meet?" another yelled.

James gently pulled Lily forward to the microphone, and motioned for her to answer.

"I'm a Healer Trainee at St. Mungo's. That being said, on behalf of my workplace, I'd like to express my gratitude to you all as well. As for the second question, I met James at Hogwarts. We were in the same year and house."

A woman with a severe black haircut called, "I was three years ahead of you in Gryffindor, and you two were known for your screaming matches in the common room."

Lily looked at James with what she hoped was loving adoration, and her gut wrenched to see him return it, knowing that it wasn't painted on his face for appearance's sake like hers was. "Yes, well… things change."

He gazed down at her and winked, kissing her gently on the forehead. There were a few more questions for James, which he answered while standing behind Lily, pulling her to his chest and holding her in a loose hug from behind.

Eventually, the guests took to the dance floor once again. Lily was exhausted and stressed, and found herself pressing her face into James' shoulder as he held her tightly and closely, and they swayed gently.

James murmured into her hair, "I'm going to kiss you now."

Lily tilted her face up towards his, and whispered vulnerably, "Okay."

Then, for the first time, James gently captured Lily's lips with his. It was a soft, sweet kiss, and to his surprise, Lily kissed him back. After what seemed like forever, they broke apart, and Lily promptly buried her face in James' chest again.

The song ended and the band began to clear up. As James set off to deal with the formalities and say his good-byes as the poster boy of the team, Lily took her seat at the table to wait for him, and almost immediately a goblet was shoved under her nose.

She turned in time to see Sirius drop into the chair next to her, clutching his own glass and grinning lazily.

"It's only water," he said in response to her raised eyebrows. "Marauder's Honor. Mine, on the other hand…"

Lily rolled her eyes and suspiciously lifted the goblet. "Oh, well, if I've got _Marauder's Honor_, it must be safe."

Sirius barked out a laugh and clanked his goblet against the one Lily was still holding in the hair in front of her. "Cheers, Evans!"

When James made his way to them a few minutes later, it was to find Lily pursing her lips and shaking her head, and Sirius with his chair tipped back and his dragonhide boots propped on the table, gesturing wildly with a half full glass of firewhiskey clutched dangerously in his hand.

James plucked the goblet out of his friend's hand, and threw back the rest of it himself. He winced at the burn and scrunched his eyes, holding his hand out to Lily. "Ready to go home, love?"

"Anything to get away from Black when he's drunk," she muttered under her breath, unaware that anyone could hear her.

"Even going home with me?" James whispered to her, just before spinning them both on the spot and disappearing from the room.


	5. Chapter 4

**AN: I'm three weeks out from final exams, so that means that any spare moment I have will be devoted to studying the anatomy of a dog head, and histology, and immunology, and other things that sometimes make me regret my life choices. BUT, on the bright side, I'm pretty sure this is my longest chapter so far. So, read, review, and enjoy, while I continue to torture myself with vet school!**

**Chapter 4**

Sirius apparated into James' sitting room the next morning, clutching a copy of the _Daily Prophet_ and prepared to yell, but he was cut off when he saw his best friend stirring on the couch and groping for his glasses.

"Why are you sleeping on your couch, Prongs?" Sirius asked.

"Lily's not comfortable with me sleeping in bed with her, and I'm not about to make her sleep out here."

Sirius looked confused. "You have a spare bedroom, mate."

"One which we're decontaminating and are changing into a nursery," James said wearily. "Why are you here, Padfoot?"

He held up the paper, which showed a replay of James and Lily kissing displayed prominently on the front page.

James groaned, running a hand through his hair. "Fantastic. It was that cow, Kaar, wasn't it? Let me go wake Lily up."

He walked into his bedroom and shut the door softly behind him. He stopped for a moment and looked at Lily, who was tangled in the sheets with her hair in complete disarray.

He saw down on the side of the bed and began to gently move her hair out of her face, softly repeating her name. Finally, he saw a hint of emerald through a slit in her eyelid before she rolled to face away from him.

He began to rub circles on her back, grinning to himself as he saw that she was wearing one of his old Gryffindor Quidditch T-shirts.

"Love, Sirius is in the living room with a _Daily Prophet_ that has a giant photo of us kissing on the front of it. I figured you'd want to read it at the same time I do."

She growled a little and stalked out of the room, yanking the paper away from Sirius and sitting on the couch to wait for James to catch up, scowling at the picture of the kiss on the front page.

"Nice shirt, Evans," Sirius said with a grin.

"It's comfortable," she snapped, sending him a rude hand gesture and shaking open the paper to read the article.

Most Eligible Bachelor No Longer

By Kassidy Kaar, Special Correspondent for Witch Weekly

_Ladies, have your tissues on hand. James Potter - rising star Chaser for Puddlemere United, this year's Witch Weekly Most Eligible Bachelor, and last year's Runner-Up - announced last night that he is officially off the market._

_Potter (19), who is notorious for at least appearing single to the public eye, showed up at the Puddlemere United Annual Gala for St. Mungo's last night with a stunning red-head on his arm. The two stayed close all evening, chatting with Potter's teammates and dancing together. In fact, the only person that Potter let his mystery girl dance with other than himself was his best friend and fellow Puddlemere player, Sirius Black (this year's WW Most Eligible Bachelor Runner-Up, and last year's winner)._

_When it came time for the individual Puddlemere players to address the crowd, Potter shocked us all once more. He introduced his date as Lily Evans, his fiancé of three months. You read right; not only has Potter secretly been dating someone, but he's secretly been engaged**.**_

_Evans, a 19-year-old Healer Trainee at St. Mungo's, shares a surprisingly long history with Potter. The two were in the same year at Hogwarts, both Gryffindors, and Head Boy and Girl of their year. They also, according to several sources, were known for not getting along. At all._

_"James always claimed that he had been in love with Lily since seeing her on the train as first years," said Frank Longbottom, a recent Auror graduate who was one of Potter's school dorm mates, and whose wife Alice happens to be one of Evans' good friends. "Nobody ever really doubted him, and if they did, they rather quickly were forced to change their mind."_

_"Evans hated him though," commented Samantha Greene, another yearmate of the two, "and just as much as everyone knew James was in love with Evans, they knew Evans couldn't stand him. She made it very clear to him. I believe she once said she'd rather date the giant squid than James. They didn't even get along as Heads, although Evans didn't murder him, so that was surprising. Shame really for all of us other girls. She wasn't interested at all, but James only ever had eyes for her."_

_When asked about this dislike at the Gala by fellow Witch Weekly reporter Angelea Nouvel, who was three years ahead of Potter and Evans in Gryffindor and witnessed the strife herself, Evans turned an adoring gaze on Potter and answered, frustratingly vaguely, "Yes, well… things change."_

_So there you have it, readers. In little less than two years, "things changed." We know very little except that Potter went on to Puddlemere and Evans apparently joined the ranks of St. Mungo's. As far as anyone can tell, they were not on speaking terms, and yet here they stand, snogging on the dance floor and with Evans wearing what is unquestionably an heirloom Potter emerald on her left hand._

_The couple revealed very little about their relationship, and nothing about their wedding plans. Don't worry though, as your social team here at Witch Weekly and the Daily Prophet will do our very best to uncover and distribute details as they become available._

_Our advice to Miss Evans? You've got the Most Eligible Bachelor in wizarding Britain. He's ridiculously fit, ridiculously rich, and is an international Quidditch star. You clearly don't need to impress him of your intelligence or drive, and whatever you contribute financially will not matter at all. We suggest that you quit the Healer program and enjoy your new fiancé while he's home with you._

"That… that bitch!" Lily managed to growl, before crumpling the Prophet and throwing it on the ground and storming back into the bedroom to get ready for work.

"Oi!" Sirius cried. "I wasn't done reading that!"

Lily stopped in the doorway and glared at him. As she turned and slammed the door behind her, the crumpled mess of paper went up in flames.

"I guess I'll just buy another one, then," Sirius muttered, shooting a stream of water from his wand onto the burning paper.

James took his glasses off and rubbed his face wearily. "That could have gone better," he sighed. "Thanks for the paper, Padfoot. I'll see you later."

He walked over to his closed door and after finding it locked, leaned against it. "Lily? Are you alright? Can I come in?"

The lock clicked and James slowly opened the door to see Lily sitting on the edge of the bed, staring at the Healer's robes she had clenched in her hands. Cautiously, he walked over and sat down next to her, remaining silent for a few moments.

Eventually, he reached out to take one of her hands saying, "You know it's a load of rubbish, Evans. _Witch Weekly_ is written by a room full of gossips, and Kassidy Kaar is one of the worst. The news is out now, but we have all the time in the world to show people what this really is."

Lily scoffed, ripping her hand from his grasp. "What this really is? There's nothing real about this. I made a mistake and now I'm stuck with you, and I deserve to have people thinking I'm some sort of slag or something."

"Hey, hey, none of that!" James cut her off. "You are not a slag, and you don't deserve to have people saying things like that, and you know that."

"I'm going to be late for work," Lily said, abruptly. "Unless, of course, you plan on telling me that I'm a fool for working even though I clearly don't have any reason to do so."

"I'd never even _think_ about asking that of you," James answered. "Tell you what – I'll have dinner ready when you get home tonight, and then we can talk, really talk. How's that sound?"

"As long as you get take-away and don't try to cook, I'll consider it. Now go, I'm running really late now."

* * *

Lily rushed into the Trainee office at St. Mungo's only to find her three classmates huddled around her empty desk, on which was sitting another red rose with a note wrapped around the stem. She quickly picked it up and read:

'_L – With everything else going on this morning, I forgot to wish you luck at work – I know you work with mainly women, so I expect your day will be filled with squeals and other girly things like that, which I know isn't really your cup of tea. I'll see you at home. I think I'm going to pick up pasta from that place down the street. Love – J_'

She sighed, and looked up into the expectant faces of her fellow trainees. "Alright, go for it."

"Lily!" Cecile squealed, her voice getting higher and higher as she drew out Lily's name, slamming a copy of the paper onto the desk, the picture of Lily and James' kiss facing up. "I can't believe you. James Potter!?"

"I didn't even think you followed the Quidditch League!" Grace said. "You're so lucky though! He's so handsome!"

Lily couldn't help but laugh at their reactions. "I don't follow the League, you're right. I knew James when we were in school, and we happened to run into each other several months back."

"Is what that hag Kaar wrote true?" Cecile demanded. "Did you really tell James Potter that you'd rather date a giant squid?"

Lily had the decency to look ashamed. "That part _was_ true, yeah. He had just cursed someone in an attempt to defend my honor, which I was perfectly capable of doing myself. Then he turned to ask me out, while the other student was still under his curse, so I told him no, and since we were by the lake, the squid was the first thing that came to mind."

As Cecile and Grace roared with laughter, Charissa asked, "Are you happy, Lily?"

She took a deep breath and forced a smile onto her face, hoping that she looked like a newly engaged woman was supposed to. "Life is never dull living with James Potter, that's for sure. But yeah, with the exception of Kassidy Kaar, I suppose I'm happy."

"But Merlin!" Grace sighed. "Just look at that photo. I wish I had a man who would look at me with that much adoration. It's like he didn't even realize there were other people there!"

Lily smiled uncomfortably, glancing down at the paper again. Grace was right – there was no denying how clearly James' feelings were painted across his face. His eyes were locked on hers and the awe he had for her was frighteningly evident. She had been seeing that look on his face for the past few weeks, and however much he denied it, there was no question about the fact that James Potter was still very much in love with her.

Just then, Healer Jones, their supervisor, walked in to find all four of his trainees congregated around one desk, gossiping.

"I understand that Evans is now apparently in the forefront of the gossip world, but she is still a Healer trainee. As such, regardless of the fact that her fiancé is a Quidditch star, she should still be stocking potions and rounding on patients, as should the rest of you. Now move!"

* * *

That night, Lily floo'd into James' living room and immediately collapsed on the couch with a loud groan.

James heard her and wandered out of the bedroom, instinctively catching one of the flying shoes Lily had just kicked off.

"Erm, how was work today?" he asked hesitantly, collecting the other shoe and dropping both by the bedroom door.

She glared at him. "Why'd you have to be so bloody famous?"

James sighed. "You know that I'd do anything I could to make this easier for you. Go get changed, and I'll set the food out and we can talk then."

Several minutes later, Lily emerged from the bedroom in jeans and James' quidditch jersey, which James couldn't help but grin about. For a few minutes they sat across from each other in silence, picking at their food.

Finally, Lily said, "What _is_ this? What _are_ we?"

James set his fork down and mussed up his hair. "We… are making the best of a not so good situation. As far as other people are concerned, we're engaged, but as far as you and I are concerned, hopefully we are or can be friends."

"How can we pretend to be engaged or even be friends if we know nothing about each other?" she demanded.

"I _do_ know you," he replied. "Your name is Lily Marie Evans. Your birthday is the 30th of January. You're from Spinner's End. You have an older sister called Petunia. You're in training to be a Healer."

"That just makes you sound like you stalked me for seven years," Lily argued. "Which you did."

"Okay, well, I bet you know some of the same things about me," James challenged.

"Fine," she replied defiantly. "Your name is James… Potter. I don't know your middle name because I'm not a stalker like you are. Your birthday is in either November or March, I couldn't say which. I have no idea where you live, but I know you're an only child. You're a Chaser for Puddlemere United."

"It would have helped my point if you did better than that," he admitted. "My middle name is Charlus. My birthday is the 27th of March, but Sirius' is in November so I can see why you guessed that. I'm from Godric's Hollow, and biologically yeah, I'm an only child. Yes, I'm a Chaser. See, you know something about me. Shall we keep going? What's your favorite color? Mine's red."

Lily scoffed. "Of course it is – you're such a Gryffindor. Mine's green, but don't worry, it has nothing to do with Slytherin and everything to do with – "

"Your eyes," James cut her off.

Lily narrowed her emerald eyes and proposed, "What would you change about yourself? I'd change my hair and my freckles."

"I'd change my hair too," James replied, chuckling. "But I wouldn't change your hair. I'd never change your hair. Favorite book?"

"Pride and Prejudice," Lily replied. "What's yours?"

"I really like Treasure Island, actually."

For the next hour, the two of them sat there throwing questions back and forth, their dinner long since forgotten. Eventually, the question that was posed was "What's your greatest fear?"

"I'm scared that I'll wake up one day and this will all have been a dream. That there wouldn't have ever been magic, or Hogwarts, or any of the last 8 years," Lily said. "Because of that, I feel like I have to work so much harder to avoid failure or rejection, which also scare the life out of me."

James closed his eyes before giving his answer. "I'm terrified that I'll lose all of the people who I love. Did you know that St. Mungo's sent me anti-depressant potions for months after my parents died? I don't think I could bear it if I lost Sirius, Remus, Peter, and…"

"And me?" Lily whispered.

"You've been on that list for years now," James admitted. "Especially now though, because of the baby."

They sat for a few moments, digesting the answers, before James said, "Last one, because it's late and you have work tomorrow. What's your biggest secret?"

Lily winced. "You go first."

"Well," James said with a sigh, "You know about Remus, yeah?"

At her confused nod, he stood and walked to the empty space in the living room and said, "We came up with a way to help him."

And then James was gone, and in his place stood a giant, majestic stag, with his head down but his eyes fixed on the girl across the room.

"_Prongs_!" Lily gasped, as everything suddenly made sense – the nicknames, the disappearing on full moons, the unexplained injuries or trips to the hospital wing along with Remus. Slowly she walked around the couch and reached a hand out, stopping before she touched the nose of the stag that was James.

Gently, Prongs butted at her outstretched hand, encouraging her to touch him, and she did, running her hand up and down his snout with an almost feather-light touch.

After a few minutes, James changed back, grabbing her hand in his own. "Your secret?" he encouraged.

She took her hand back and turned away from him, walking to stare out the window. "It wasn't an accident that I was at the bar that night," she all but whispered. "I knew you'd be there and be drinking, and I just felt so damn lonely and worthless and I knew you'd be there to make me feel better about myself."

There was silence. Then all of a sudden James had Lily spun around, crushing her face to his chest in a tight hug. "Lily Evans, you are the most intelligent, compassionate, driven, passionate, beautiful woman I've ever met, and I will _always_ be there for you. Don't you _dare_ think otherwise."

They stood that way for minutes, neither one of them speaking as Lily sobbed gently into James' chest. Finally, Lily pulled away from him, sniffling, and mumbled, "Good night, James," before quietly disappearing into the bedroom.

James stared at the closed door. He was absolutely, 100% in love with that girl, and after the night they had just shared, he was beginning to wonder if maybe she didn't hate him quite as much as she tried to convey.


	6. Chapter 5

**AN: At this point, all I can say is that this hasn't been abandoned, I have it outlined, and I intend to finish it, I just can't make any promises as to when. I'm not sure that I'm terribly happy with this chapter, but it's a necessary filler to move time along. Hopefully you all enjoy it.**

**Chapter 5**

The next few weeks dragged on for Lily. While her co-workers eventually got used to the fact that she was "engaged" to the famous James Potter, she still had to deal with patients who would come in for appointments and recognize her from the article the Prophet had run.

Since it was the off-season for James, he was almost always home by the time Lily got out of work, and he'd always ask how her days went.

Inevitably, she'd answer with something like, "I had an 8-year-old come in today who had gotten a hold of his mum's wand and somehow managed to make a steady stream of sweets come out of his nose, and as soon as I introduced myself, his mum told him that I was going to marry you. So instead of sitting still and quiet so I could work on reversing the spell and healing his nose, he just started spouting off questions about you that I don't even know the answers to."

In cases like these, James couldn't help but laugh at her. "What questions about me don't you know?"

"He asked which of your brooms has been your favorite," she threw her hands up, exasperated. "I didn't even know you have more than one, or that the ones you have now aren't the ones you've always had!"

James roared with laughter, picturing Lily in that situation. "What did you tell him?"

With as much dignity as she could muster, she said, "I told him the one you fly the most is your favorite, because that's the most logical answer. Then I told him to shut his mouth so I could fix him."

"For future reference," James said with a wink, "I fly on a Nimbus 1500 during games and use a Nimbus 1400 during practice, but my favorite is my Moontrimmer 7. That's what I played with at Hogwarts."

"I really don't care," Lily replied. "To me, a broomstick is a broomstick. I just care that people stop keeping me from my job just because you're famous and they saw a picture of me with you!"

"To be fair," James said cautiously, noting how worked up Lily was getting, "It was a picture of the two of us _kissing_. Would you like to go for dinner and maybe one of those moving picture things in Muggle London with me tomorrow? It'll get you away from the stress of work, and nobody will recognize us. Stress can't be good for the baby, can it?"

Lily looked at James in silence for a moment, before eventually deciding that he had no ulterior motives, and with a deep breath answered, "Dinner and a film sound nice, thank you."

* * *

The next afternoon, James went to London immediately after his workout to make reservations at an Italian place near the cinema and to buy a nice dressy shirt like the Muggles wore.

Lily, meanwhile, was staring down at an array of clothing she had laid out on James' bed, trying to decide what to wear, while at the same time wondering why she was putting so much thought into it. _After all_, she reasoned, _it wasn't really a date if it was just him offering a destressor and reason for her to not cook, right?_

Finally, she settled on a longer emerald green V-neck sweater which complemented her eyes and turned to the pile of pants. She decided that the black slacks were too dressy and would make it seem more like a date than a destressor, and pulled on her favorite pair of jeans instead, only to find that she couldn't fasten the button.

When she worked, she wore the wizarding equivalent of Muggle scrubs under her lime green Healer robes, and when she was studying or lounging about James' flat, she had taken to wearing sweatpants and one of James' large T-shirts. The logical, medical part of her brain knew of course that she'd be gaining weight and beginning to show soon, but the vain, feminine side of her had been refusing to accept it. Here, however, was the unavoidable truth.

With a frustrated shriek, she seized her wand and magicked the waistband of her pants just a tad bigger, knowing that she could only do so much before the look of the jeans was altered too much. Making a face, she realized that she'd need to go shopping for maternity clothes relatively soon.

Seconds after her annoyed exclamation, the door to James' bedroom flew open and Sirius came barging in, only to be met with an even louder scream and a wand to his face.

"Merlin, Evans! What's wrong? Why do you keep screaming?" he demanded, while simultaneously investigating the room for the cause of her yells.

"What the hell are you doing here, Black?" Lily demanded back. "You don't live here!"

He shrugged. "Prongs wanted me to get some of my stuff out of the other bedroom. Now tell me why you screamed."

"Honestly, Black, it was nothing. I'm fine," Lily said, walking to the bathroom to take a look at herself in the mirror.

"Evans," he said very somberly, "if something is wrong, you need to tell me. If Prongs knew something happened and I didn't do anything, he'd kill me."

Lily paused, knowing her wouldn't give up, and quietly said, "I was frustrated by the fact that my jeans didn't fit. I didn't realize I was gaining that much weight already. Do I look fat, Black? Be honest, is it obvious I'm pregnant?"

He took a minute to look at her, scanning slowly from her feet to her head, and a naughty grin formed on his face.

"Damn, Evans! You should really wear something other than Prongs' clothes more often! Especially low cut, V-neck sweaters like this. I wouldn't think you were pregnant if I didn't already know James had knocked you up, but I'd sure as hell think you've had some work done, if you know what I mean."

Lily threw a hairbrush at him and crossed her arms around her chest. "I suddenly regret asking you to be honest."

"You asked Padfoot to be honest?" came James' voice, as he walked toward the open bathroom door, a garment bag draped over his arm. "Why in Merlin's name would you expect him to actually be honest?"

"Evans was having a bit of an emotional crisis and thinking she was getting fat, and since you weren't here to comfort her, I told her that not only does she not look fat, but she looks incredibly fit," Sirius said, sending a wink Lily's way.

James paused, looking suspiciously from Lily to Sirius, squinting at the innocent look on Sirius' face, ultimately deciding that even though he didn't believe his best friend, it wasn't worth trying to drag out the truth.

"He's right though," James said, shrugging and burying his hand in his hair. "You do look very nice, Lily. Give me ten minutes to change, and then we can head for dinner?"

* * *

They left shortly after James had changed into his new Muggle jeans and a black button-up. Lily insisted that they take the Underground and walk, so they both bundled themselves up in heavy coats and scarves.

Lily led the way to the little Italian restaurant she had gone to many times in the past, skillfully navigating the changing lines of the Underground and the twisting streets above, at times practically dragging James away form where he'd stare, fascinated, at the most ordinary things.

Finally, they reached the restaurant, found their table, and ordered their food. They ate in relative silence for a few minutes, before Lily cracked a smile, shyly glancing at James.

"You know you can take that ridiculous hat off, don't you?" she asked, motioning at the wool hat James had attempted to hide his hair with, complete with a bright red pompom on top. "We are in the absolute middle of Muggle London. You won't be recognized here, I promise."

Sheepishly, he pulled the hat off his head, causing his hair to stand up in all directions, and stuffed it into a coat pocket.

Once they had finished their appetizers and main courses, James also bought a dessert for them to share, saying "After what I've put you through at work just because people know my name, you deserve to have me buy you dessert every day!"

They walked the few blocks to the cinema in comfortable silence. James decided to not push his luck trying to hold her hand or wrapping his arm around her, and instead settled for walking so close to her that they would occasionally bump shoulders.

After the third time they bumped each other, Lily glanced up at James out of the corner of her eye, and saw him very purposefully staring straight ahead, hands shoved deep into the pockets of his coat. Lily allowed herself a little smile, and figured James must have seen it, as he immediately bumped her shoulder again, causing her to laugh outright and bump him back.

The rest of the way to the cinema was spent that way – the two of them playing human bumper cars and laughing.

James watched as Lily bought the two tickets, two sodas, a giant bucket of popcorn, a great tower of cheesy nachos, and a few boxes of sweets.

He had let her do it so he wouldn't need to deal with the Muggle money, but now he just stared at her as she thrust one of the drinks and the tub of popcorn into his arms, tucked his ticket in between his pinky and ring ringers as they were wrapped around the drink, and pressed one of the boxes of sweets against his mouth until he realized she wanted him to carry it in between his teeth. Unable to protest, he followed behind her, and awkwardly shuffled around so the kid at the stand could take his ticket.

When they found their seats and James was able to unload all of the snacks she had forced on him, he said, "Lily, what in Merlin's name is all of this? We just ate!"

She shrugged, tossing a handful of popcorn into her mouth. "It's just what you do when you go to see a film. Besides, I've really been wanting popcorn and these nachos lately, and it's unwise to deny a pregnant woman her cravings."

The film started shortly after. It was about this divorced man who fell in love with a new girl even though he was still hung up on his ex. Lily was completely entranced, but James watched her more than he did the screen. Without knowing that it could have been a scene in a cheesier film than the one they were watching, he very hesitantly reached his arm around and placed it on the back of Lily's chair, ever so slightly, pain-stakingly slowly, letting it slide down until it rested around Lily's shoulders. He tensed, expecting her to shrug him off, but she never did. While she didn't lean into him, or even really acknowledge it at all, she never forced his arm off of her, and didn't even object the few times James found himself playing with her hair, and he counted that as a positive step forward.

An hour later, they were making their way back to the Underground station, James listening to Lily chatter on about what she thought of the film.

"Lily," he suddenly interrupted, "you know we're going to have to announce that you're pregnant fairly soon here, right?"

She shot him a nasty look. "Are _you_ insinuating that I'm gaining weight? Because according to Black it's all in my chest so far, which doesn't necessarily mean pregnancy."

"He said what?" James asked, aghast. "No, I don't want to know. No, you don't look pregnant. Yet. But you will soon."

"What are you proposing, then? We throw a party and invite all the reporters over?" she asked, sarcastically.

"No, but I am saying that it's better to tell them ourselves than let them figure it out on their own. A single interview with just one reporter would do. Or, we just have Puddlemere put out an official press release, and we don't have to be involved at all."

She was silent for a few minutes, not answering James until they got off the train and exited onto the street a few blocks from his flat.

"You're right," she finally said. "We'll do some sort of press release, but not yet. We can wait a little while longer."

Moments later, as James walked out of his room and toward the couch, Lily stopped him by softly calling out, "James… Thank you for tonight. It was very nice."


	7. Chapter 6

**AN: I know, I know, **_**finally**_** an update. While I plan on finishing both of my in progress stories, I decided I need to work on one at a time, and my goal is to finish this one at the latest by the time this semester is done. Veterinary school is hard and I no longer sleep. Regardless though, yay – an update! Ignoring the fact that your author is ungodly slow, please read, review, and enjoy!**

**Chapter 6 (Late January, 1980)**

Lily woke up on the morning of her 20th birthday and laid in bed for a few minutes, her hands resting over her now slightly evident baby bump, praying to Merlin that her first birthday present wouldn't be the return of her morning sickness. Mercifully, it seemed like it hadn't.

She dressed for work and wandered into the main room of the flat for food, expecting to see James in his usual tangled mess on the couch. Instead, she found a bright bouquet of flowers on the table, along with a full English breakfast placed under a Stasis charm and a scrap of parchment left by James.

_Happy birthday, Lily! Sorry I couldn't say it in person, Wright called an early practice this morning. Enjoy the breakfast – don't worry, I ordered it in; wouldn't want to give you food poisoning on your birthday. Hope you have as decent of a day at work as you can. – J_

When Lily got to work, it was to find her desk surrounded by her three classmates once again. While she wasn't surprised to find another flower and note - this time a calla lily – she _was_ surprised to see a small rectangular box.

Under the extremely watchful eyes of the other women, she unrolled the note to read:

_L – I know, I know, I've put you under the scrutiny of your classmates again, but you didn't really think breakfast was the only gift I was going to get you, did you? Also, I hope you forgive the cliché of the lily, I've had a preference for them for about ten years now. Frank and Alice have asked us to double with them to Le Chaudron D'or on Valentine's, which I know probably isn't what you'd prefer, but they've already made the reservation and Alice is terribly excited about it. I've actually given her another excuse to get excited by telling her that you and her will have to go shopping so you can buy something to wear to dinner to match your gift… So really, you can't even have a fit over the gift since it's technically thanks to the Longbottoms that I had an excuse to give it to you. Regardless of the excuse, I'm more than happy to give it to you. I hope you like it, but know that its beauty pales in comparison to yours. Love – J_

Rolling her eyes slightly, and casting a preservation charm on the flower before adding it to the vase on her desk that was slowly filling with the floral tokens from James, Lily carefully opened the little box. To a round of squeals, Lily pulled out a short, almost choker length gold necklace that when she put it on rested along the curve of her collarbones. It matched the engagement ring she had picked out, with five stones hanging from it – a relatively large, oval emerald hanging from the middle, two smaller, round diamonds a little bit further up the chain on either side, and finally two even smaller round emeralds higher up still.

She carefully put it back in the box, and tucked it safely into a drawer of her desk, before turning to look at the other women.

"Damn!" Charissa breathed, thoroughly impressed. "I mean… wow! Merlin, that's beautiful!"

Grace sighed, turning to Ceclile. "Wouldn't it be lovely to have a professional Quidditch player who comes from old money anyway as a fiancé?"

Cecile mimed swooning, clutching at her heart. "And so romantic, too! You've got to be the most envied witch in Britain right now."

Lily blushed. "He's always been very over-the-top when it comes to gifting me things or proclaiming his affections for me, even in school when I couldn't stand him. We're apparently going out for a nice dinner on Valentine's Day with the Longbottoms, and supposedly that's what the necklace is for, but I personally just think he wanted to buy me something sparkly and expensive for my birthday. I wish he'd keep things a little more private, but James Potter doesn't do low-key very well."

"I bet you wish it was private!" cackled Grace, waggling her eyebrows.

"Grace!" Lily said, scandalized, throwing an old Prophet at her as the other two laughed loudly.

In a poor attempt to duck out of the spotlight, Lily bustled off into the other room with a large box of potion vials to fill, leaving the other three behind to happily gossip about her and James as they mixed up their own potions.

A few hours later, just before their lunch break, the excited chatter had finally calmed down and Lily was almost all the way through labeling her potions for distribution throughout the rest of the hospital.

She was in the process of sealing the last bottle when a series of screams from the office startled her so much that she actually dropped the bottle and watched it shatter on the floor.

"Oh, Merlin! Oh, Merlin!"

"You're James Potter. You're _the _James Potter!"

Lily ran an exhausted hand over her face, and proceeded to vanish her mess and pack away the vials that she had already finished with, listening to James from the other room saying, "Er, yeah. I'm looking for Lily Evans, actually. Is she here?"

Deciding that since he had been showering her in niceties for her birthday she would spare him the harassment that Charissa, Grace, and Cecile were bound to cause. Forcing herself to bring a smile to her face, she walked into the office to see James surrounded by her three friends, holding another little box with an overlarge bow on it.

He broke into a grin of his own when he saw her, and broke through the ranks of the other trainees to walk over to Lily, pulling her into a hug and kissing the top of her head, saying, "Happy birthday, love! I brought you another gift."

He handed her the little box with a flourish, and she sent him a mocking grin that the girls behind her couldn't see before popping the bow off and sticking it to his forehead. She opened the box to find earrings that matched the necklace he had left her earlier – pendants consisting of a larger emerald and a smaller diamond hanging below it.

She looked up at him exasperated. "You know you don't need to buy me things like this, don't you?"

"Maybe I think if I buy you enough jewelry you'll eventually cave and I'll get to take you out to dinner in a pretty dress," he said with a wink.

Lily sighed and rested her head against his chest, to which he responded by wrapping his arms around her and pulling her closer to him, covertly sticking the bow on her back. "How're you doing, love?"

"'M tired," she mumbled. "Dealing with you exhausts me."

He laughed, and said, "Well, it's a good thing then that I brought you that gift by hand to tell you that I also got you the rest of the day off. I borrowed one of those film players and a telly from Remus and have a lovely relaxing afternoon of films and junk food planned for you."

Lily pulled back and peered up at his face, suddenly suspicious. "How exactly did you manage to get me the afternoon off? We don't get extra time off. Ever."

James painted a falsely innocent expression on his face and shrugged, saying, "I definitely _didn't_ give your boss a few VIP tickets for the first game of the season. Come on, grab your things and let's go home."

Shaking her head, Lily snagged her bag from the desk and pulled the necklace out of the drawer, shrugged at her flabbergasted and overwhelmed looking friends, who all looked close to swooning, and followed James out of the office to a floo point.

* * *

The next week found Lily and Alice strolling past shop windows in Muggle London, trying to find Lily a dress to wear on their Valentine's dinner date that would match the jewelry James had bought for her. Alice had decided that she was going to wear dress robes, and the two of them had just come from Diagon Alley where she had picked out a new set of deep red robes.

As they ducked into a department store that looked promising, Alice suddenly said, "Lily, can I tell you a secret? Only Frank and his mother know so far. And Moody too, I suppose. Frank and I are expecting!"

Lily dragged Alice out of the main aisle and pulled her into a tight hug. "Congratulations! When are you due?"

Alice grinned. "The end of July. Frank and I figured we'd keep it quiet for as long as we can, but if we're going out with you and James, there will be photographers and in those tighter robes I just bought and not Auror robes, people might be able to tell. You know how those people like to dig so deep into things. There's also only so long I can keep doing desk work at the DMLE without complaining before someone realizes how strange that is."

Lily beckoned Alice closer and said with a smirk that would make James proud, "I have a secret too. Except becauseof the press, I'm trying to find a dress that _will_ hide it, and everything I like is either too damn tight or won't match the necklace!"

Alice gaped at her. "Lily Evans! Are you saying what I think you're saying?"

"If you're thinking that are kids will have birthdays very close to each other, then yes, I am," Lily replied with a wink. "Healer robes hide things too, you know. James is planning on doing a press release with Puddlemere in a few weeks to announce it, so I'm still keeping it hush-hush for now."

Three stores later, Lily walked out of a dressing room wearing a floor length silvery-grey dress. The fabric was tighter across the chest and flowed up into straps that formed a V-shaped neckline that would perfectly frame the necklace. The rest of the dress flowed loosely to the floor, and Lily was pleased to see that nobody would be able to tell she was pregnant.

"Oh, Lily, that's the one!" Alice gushed. "You look perfect! James is going to lose his poor, little mind when he sees you."

* * *

"Lily, are you almost ready?" James called. "We're going to be late if we don't leave soon!"

The words died from his mouth as she walked out of the bedroom wearing her new dress and holding the emerald necklace out to James, clearly asking him to help her put it on. He didn't move. He stood there, mouth still partially open, frozen in awe of the woman in front of him.

She blinked at him, slightly concerned with his lack of response. "James?" she said as she walked toward him, running her free hand up and down in front of his face a few times. "Are you alright?"

He shook his head, as if coming out of a daze, reaching out to take the necklace and fasten it beneath the curtain of red curls that Lily had pulled away from her face and tied back to cascade down her back.

"You look absolutely stunning," he said in reverence, spinning her in a slow circle, wordlessly summoning her black travel cloak to him and wrapping it around her shoulders.

Lily blushed and dropped her eyes to the floor, looking anywhere other than James. After living with him for the past several months, she was used to his compliments and occasional uncharacteristic formality, but she was sometimes overwhelmed by the sincerity and blatant adoration behind his statements.

She followed him through the floo to Le Chaudron D'or, where he took her hand immediately when she stepped out of the fire. She tried her best to ignore the camera flashes and questions being thrown at them from the press outside the windows as James smoothly led her through the restaurant to an elegantly set table in the back corner, where Frank and Alice were already sitting.

Gallantly, James helped her out of her cloak and pulled her chair out for me, before sitting down and watching as the bread course appeared on the table before them.

They laughed and caught up with each other through the bread, salad, and main courses. Before their dessert came, however, James and Frank stood up at the same time, offering their hands to their girls and pulling them gently to a slowly filling dance floor with pink and white confetti softly falling over it.

"Shall we give them the photos they want so desperately?" Lily asked Alice with a wink.

Alice laughed, very quickly running a hand over the tiny swell of her stomach that her dress robes showed. "Well, they've got to have something to write their ridiculous articles about!"

As the player-less instruments in the corner of the room started a new song, James spun Lily around to face him, pulling her closer even than he had at the Puddlemere gala and started leading her across the little dance floor in a waltz, all the while staring into her eyes.

At one point, he missed a step and they stumbled a bit as he furiously blinked a piece of the confetti from his eye.

Lily laughed, glancing up at his irritated face. "You do realize how ridiculously cheesy and cliché absolutely everything about this is, right? Or did you not realize it until you were almost further blinded by unnecessary Valentine's decorations?"

James playfully growled a bit, and pulled Lily tight against his chest, kissing the top of her head before brushing the pink and white specks from her hair. "It's possible that the confetti is unnecessary. I will point out that technically it was Frank who chose the restaurant, so I've got no part in that."

As they swayed along to several more songs, Lily's thoughts were flying through her head at lightning speed. She realized with a start that she didn't feel at all uncomfortable with the fact that James Potter, the man who she had for some many years not been able to stand, was holding her quite close to himself. She reflected over everything James had done for her since she had owled him and asked him to meet up with her – offering her his flat, willingly giving up his own bed for her, holding back her hair as she suffered through her terrible morning sickness, his attempts to shield her from the obnoxious press members, the cheesy little notes and flowers he charmed to show up on her desk… How obviously he was pretending that he was just playing along with his affection and feelings toward her so as to not ruin her reputation, when it was clear that he really was absolutely in love with her…

She figured that because James was going to be a huge part of her life because of the baby, he really _had_ grown up since leaving school and she didn't really have any of the complaints about him that she used to, and there was no doubt in her mind that he loved her, that she maybe ought to give into her pride and actually give him a chance.

As the last few notes of the current song died out, James started to turn to head back to their table along with the Longbottoms for the dessert they'd yet to have. Making up her mind, Lily tugged James to a halt as they exited the dance floor, and under his curious gaze, stood her toes and, for the first time initiating it herself, kissed him.

They joined Frank and Alice at the table, James with a goofy smile on his face. The four of them finished the crème brûlée that had appeared as soon as they took their seats again, and James and Frank each finally tossed a pile of galleons on the corner of the table. Lily and Alice gave each other parting hugs, and James and Frank shook hands before the respective couples took their turns at the fireplace.

Back at James' flat, Lily watched as James grabbed his sleeping pants from the dresser and left for the bathroom. She carefully took off the necklace and matching earrings and set them back in the velvet boxes James had gifted them to her in. After taking her time to undo the charms she had put on her hair and meticulously hanging the dress in a garment bag in the back of the closet, she pulled on an old Gryffindor shirt of James' and peaked her head out of the bedroom and into the living room.

As she had expected, James had tossed his dress robes on the coffee table and was sprawled across the couch.

He must have heard her, because he sat up and groped for his glasses, mumbling, "Lily? Everything alright?"

"I… yeah, it is," she replied, twisting her hands in the hem of the overlarge shirt she was wearing. "I just wanted to, well, to let you know that you don't have to sleep on the couch anymore if you don't want to. I'll, er, be in bed if you decide you want to sleep in your room again. Good night."

She quickly left him looking absolutely flummoxed in the living room, and clambered into the bed, being sure that she was more on one side than in the middle, if he were to come in at any point.

Several minutes later, when she was almost asleep, Lily heard the door creak open, and with half-closed eyes watched as James came into the room, grabbed a t-shirt of his own from the dresser, and hesitantly climbed into the other side of the bed. There was silence and stillness for a moment, and then Lily felt his lips ghost over the top of her head as he whispered, "Love you, Lily" before turning to lay facing the opposite wall as Lily.

* * *

James woke up the next morning to the crack of apparition and Sirius stomping around the main room, calling out "Prongs? Prongs, are you here?"

He groaned and opened his eyes blearily only to stare at the back of Lily's head. She clearly either wasn't aware how much they had both moved in their sleep, or simply didn't care, because she said "Please, just make him shut up," and buried her face in her pillow.

He laughed. "That, I can't make any promises about. But I'll try."

After rummaging for his glasses, James shuffled into the main room to find Sirius coming out of the spare bedroom, carrying a stack of magazines and newspapers.

"There you are!" Sirius said, tossing the pile of gossip onto the table. "Why'd you come out of your bedroom?"

James blinked at him. "Because it's my bedroom, and I was sleeping?"

"And why were you wearing a shirt to sleep? You haven't done that since we were second years."

"Sounds a little stalkerish to me, Black," Lily said, as she blearily came to lean against the doorframe of the bedroom. "Are you sure James understands the full extent of the relationship he has with you?"

Sirius' mouth dropped open a little bit, and his eyes darted between James and Lily before he broke out into a large grin, wagging his eyebrows up and down. "Oh, I see! Evans has finally let you back into your own bedroom, Prongs? But she's still too nervous to see your bare chest, so she's making you wear more to bed than you usually do?"

As Lily scowled at his best friends, James said, "She didn't _make_ me do anything. We're taking it slow, that's all."

Sirius scoffed. "She's already pregnant, mate. I think you took it a little too fast to be taking it slow now."

"Why are you here, Black?" Lily asked, bluntly. "Because again, you don't actually live here."

Sirius dropped his teasing and gestured to the pile he had thrown on the table. "Figured I'd bring by the latest rubbish for you to read. There's a photo in the _Prophet_ and a lovely little article in _Witch Weekly_, as well as a few others."

"What are you, his PR manager or something?" Lily mumbled sarcastically, but grabbing the _Prophet _all the same.

On the front page, just below the main story, was a photo of she and James, hand in hand as they were first arriving and walking to their table. It was captioned '_Puddlemere star James Potter and his fiancé Lily Evans, as they arrive for a private Valentine's Day dinner at Le Chaudron D'or in Diagon Alley last night. For more photos and details, we direct you to the article in Witch Weekly which was also released this morning._'

With calmness that almost frightened James and Sirius, Lily reached for the copy of the _Witch Weekly_. The cover of the magazine showed a large photo of the two of them dancing, and bore the words '_Perks of Dating the Rich and Famous_', as did the article that Lily quickly found, which was predictably written by Kassidy Kaar. Accompaning it were the photo from the _Prophet_, a photo of the kiss Lily had given James, individual photos of both of them, and a close up Lily which showed off her emerald jewelry.

_Puddlemere Chaser James Potter, 19, used Valentine's Day as an opportunity to absolutely shower his apparent fiancé, now-20-year-old Healer trainee Lily Evans, with the type of date experience that us common folk can only begin to dream about. He covered everything – fancy dinner, expensive jewelry, and a look so besotted that most of us could only wish for it. _

_The pair arrived by private floo to the exclusive Diagon Alley restaurant Le Chaudron D'or where they were to dine with friends of theirs from their time at Hogwarts, Auror couple Frank and Alice Longbottom. _

_Of note is the fact that of the four of them, and indeed it seems of the entire restaurant, the Muggle-born Evans was the only one who opted to wear Muggle formalwear, as opposed to the expected dress robes. Whether or not this was a statement of her pride on being a semi-successful Muggle-born who managed to snag herself one of wizarding Britain's most eligible bachelors or to better show off the stunningly beautiful necklace and earring set that our sources say Potter got her for her birthday at the end of last month, this reporter does not know. _

_While I'm sure it deeply pained Potter, who is a Gryffindor to the core, to buy emeralds for his also Gryffindor fiancé, those who knew them in school say that he would wax on and on about how strikingly green Evans' eyes are._

_Witch Weekly readers will of course remember that Ms. Evans popped into the picture only a few months ago and was first seen with Potter at the Puddlemere United gala hosted for St. Mungo's. We had a lot of questions then, especially due to their well-described rocky past, and we have even more now, as they seem to enjoy keeping their relationship private._

_With the start of the Quidditch season approaching, will we see more of our elusive 'it' couple? We hope so, and rest assured; we will be there to cover them if we do. _

_(Readers will want to pay attention to MoM announcements coming up, as we suspect that Auror Alice Longbottom won't be going on any missions for the next nine months or so)._

Lily finished reading the article out loud, and instead of setting the lot of the magazines on fire as she had done in the past, she laughed, making the two men look at her with concern and slight fear written across their faces.

"Lily?" James asked, cautiously.

"Oh, I'm fine," she said with a grin. "I'm just picturing the look on Kassidy Kaar's face when she realizes that she's not the one to break the news about my being pregnant. She'll be furious with herself!"

Sirius raised an eyebrow. "You've clearly been spending too much time with Prongs, Evans. It's a little scary."


End file.
